N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge

Verse One: Ice Cube

Straight outta Compton crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes
When I’m called off I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off
You too boy if ya fuck with me
The police are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass that’s how I’m goin out
For the punk motherfuckers that’s showin out
Niggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo
Goin off on a motherfucker like that
with a gat that’s pointed at yo ass
So give it up smooth
Ain’t no tellin when I’m down for a jack move
Here’s a murder rap to keep yo dancin
with a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don’t make me act the motherfuckin fool
Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I’m knockin niggaz out tha box, daily
yo weekly, monthly and yearly
until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
that I’m down with the capital C-P-T
Boy you can’t fuck with me
So when I’m in your neighborhood, you better duck
Coz Ice Cube is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I’m stompin
but when I come back, boy, I’m comin straight outta Compton

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Eazy E] Yo Ren
[MC Ren] Whassup?
[Eazy E] Tell em where you from!

Verse Two: MC Ren

Straight outta Compton, another crazy ass nigga
More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger
I’m a bad motherfucker and you know this
But the pussy ass niggaz don’t show this
But I don’t give a fuck, I’ma make my snaps
If not from the records, from jackin the crops
Just like burglary, the definition is ‘jackin’
And when illegally armed it’s called ‘packin’
Shoot a motherfucker in a minute
I find a good piece o’ pussy, I go up in it
So if you’re at a show in the front row
I’m a call you a bitch or dirty-ass ho
You’ll probably get mad like a bitch is supposed to
But that shows me, slut, you’re composed to
a crazy muthafucker from tha street
Attitude legit cause I’m tearin up shit
MC Ren controls the automatic
For any dumb muthafucker that starts static
Not the right hand cause I’m the hand itself
every time I pull a AK off the shelf
The security is maximum and that’s a law
R-E-N spells Ren but I’m raw
See, coz I’m the motherfuckin villain
The definition is clear, you’re the witness of a killin
that’s takin place without a clue
And once you’re on the scope, your ass is through
Look, you might take it as a trip
but a nigga like Ren is on a gangsta tip
Straight outta Compton…

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Dr. Dre] Eazy is his name and the boy is comin…

Verse Three: Eazy-E

…straight outta Compton
is a brotha that’ll smother yo’ mother
and make ya sister think I love her
Dangerous motherfucker raises hell
And if I ever get caught I make bail
See, I don’t give a fuck, that’s the problem
I see a motherfuckin cop I don’t dodge him
But I’m smart, lay low, creep a while
And when I see a punk pass, I smile
To me it’s kinda funny, the attitude showin a nigga drivin
but don’t know where the fuck he’s going, just rollin
lookin for the one they call Eazy
But here’s a flash, they never seize me
Ruthless! Never seen like a shadow in the dark
except when I unload, see I’ll get over the hesitation
and hear the scream of the one who got the last penetration
Give a little gust of wind and I’m jettin
But leave a memory no one’ll be forgettin
So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her!
You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain’t a sucker!
This is the autobiography of the E, and if you ever fuck with me
You’ll get taken by a stupid dope brotha who will smother
word to the motherfucker, straight outta Compton

Chorus:

[City of Compton, City of Compton]

[Damn that shit was dope!]

The New Batman

The new Batman is Nightwing (Dick Grayson) while the new Robin is Damien Wayne.  Tim Drake is now the Red Robin while Jason Todd is written out of the Bat-storylines for now.

Below is a screenshot of the second Batman:

Dick Grayson is the second Batman!  What a predictable change!

China Watch : SAIC Motors’ lessons in own-brand building

Yang Jian, Automotive News China, 6th May, 2009

At this year’s Shanghai auto show a multitude of young carmakers – from the largest own-brand automaker Chery Automobile Co to the small player Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. - displayed their own-brand vehicles.

Many were copycats of international brands. This is a shame because, for the most part, the Chinese carmakers efforts to build brands will be in vain. For valuable lessons on how to build a respected brand, they would do well to look to their older brother in the domestic industry, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

Lesson 1: For brand building, copying international brands is no good.

The first model SAIC built under the Roewe brand, the Roewe 750 mid-sized sedan, was developed on the platform of the Rover 75 it acquired from MG Rover in 2005.  Chinese consumers quickly realized SAIC’s car was, to a great extent, a copy of the original.

Recognized as such, the Roewe 750 has never truly won the heart of Chinese motorists. In the first quarter of this year, only 2,732 Roewe 750s were sold in China, according to Automotive Resources Asia, a unit of J.D. Power & Associates.

By contrast, SAIC’s second own-brand offering, the Roewe 550 compact car, was a completely new model. It was developed by the company’s R&D teams in Shanghai and England. With fine materials and a graceful styling, the car was launched at last year’s Beijing auto show to wide acclaim. Sales of the new model, which starts at 127,000 yuan ($18,621), are picking up. In the first quarter it shifted 11,774 units.

Lesson 2: Brand building is costly and therefore requires a focused approach.

Running two joint ventures with Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co., SAIC Motor is by far the most cash-rich automaker in China. Even so, it has long taken a cautious approach towards building the Roewe brand and to date the brand has only had two models: the Roewe 750 and the Roewe 550.

While domestic carmakers Chery and Geely used this year’s Shanghai auto show to display a total of more than 50 models under four sub-brands each, SAIC’s President, Hu Maoyuan, was talking about “integrating existing marketing and sales resources to boost brand recognition and sales volume.”

“From both a technology and financing point of view, SAIC stands the best chance of developing a premium brand,” says Duan Chengwu, Global Insight’s Asia Technical Research Analyst.

What chance do the other domestic Chinese automakers have of developing respected brands for themselves? Unless they adjust their existing product and branding strategy, I am truly pessimistic.